Gujarat was a little behind Karnataka in terms of decarbonising its electricity sector. Haryana and Punjab have shown promising preparations and implementations for electricity transition, said the report.
Karnataka is the state that has made the most progress in overall preparedness and commitment to the transition to clean electricity, according to the latest report on India’s energy transition by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) along with Ember.
The report ‘Indian States’ Energy Transition’, released on Monday, has analysed 16 Indian states, which together account for 90 per cent of the country’s annual power requirement, across four dimensions. The dimensions track a state’s preparedness to shift away from fossil-fuel-based power, its ability to incentivise greener market participation, its power systems reliability, and its policies pushing for power sector decarbonization.
The 16 states include Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Odisha, and Bihar. Based on this analysis, the report devises a States’ Electricity Transition (SET) scoring system, which measures the performance of the different states in the transition to clean electricity.
Karnataka is the only state that scored well across all the dimensions of clean electricity transition identified in this study. It was the best-performing state in decarbonising its power sector, the performance of its power system, and the readiness of its power ecosystem. It also has conducive policies and political commitments for a smoother transition. Gujarat was a little behind Karnataka in terms of decarbonising its electricity sector.
Similarly, Haryana and Punjab have shown promising preparations and implementation for electricity transition in their respective states, said the report.
Karnataka has been an early adopter of renewable energy through proactive policies around open access, solar park development, and public awareness. The state fared the best in decarbonising its power sector and has the highest share of renewables in its power supply mix (48%).
The analysis has further found that currently, Karnataka is one of the few states overachieving its Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPO) targets. Interestingly, the state still has a large amount of untapped renewable energy potential, having installed just 11% of its total potential.
“This highlights the state’s tremendous opportunity to provide power to neighbouring states through green market mechanisms,” finds the report.
Rajasthan is second only to Karnataka, with renewables supplying 29% of the state’s power mix. The state saw a spurt in new renewable energy capacity and in March 2022, Rajasthan became the state with the largest installed capacity of renewable energy.
Punjab and Haryana are also front-runners. As of September 2022, Punjab turned about a quarter of its renewable energy potential into installed capacity (1.8GW). The state targets to install solar PV projects with a total capacity of 300MW in the state, including 200MW of canal top solar PV power projects and 100MW of floating solar PV power projects on reservoirs and lakes.
On the other hand, Haryana has the lowest installed capacity of older, more polluting coal power plants. It only had about 210MW of coal power capacity older than 25 years which is much lower than the numbers in other states.
Maharashtra, with the highest electricity demand in India, was found to be mid-table, mainly due to slow renewable energy uptake in the state and the inability to shut down older polluting coal power plants. Its renewable energy share (11%) is lower than most other states. Furthermore, it has utilised just 7 per cent of its renewable energy potential, and about 19 per cent of its operational coal fleet is older than 25 years.
“India’s revised Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets have put the country on the right path for transitioning its electricity sector. To achieve those targets, the centre now needs the cooperation of the states to move faster in their clean electricity transitions. This means states redoubling their efforts to walk the electricity transition pathway, and both central and state governments tracking progress and taking corrective measures as required,” says the report’s co-author Vibhuti Garg, Director, South Asia, IEEFA.
The report outlines focus areas for states to improve their preparedness for transition, such as exploiting wind and solar generation potential and deploying more energy storage solutions, such as batteries and pumped hydro, for better renewable energy integration.
“Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have work to do to strengthen their clean electricity transition performances. These three states should maximise their renewable energy generation potential, and at the same time increase their commitment to move away from fossil-fuels-based electricity,” says co-author Saloni Sachdeva Michael, Energy Analyst, IEEFA.
The three states fared lower than their counterparts in decarbonising their power sectors and the performance of their power systems. The power systems in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh require further improvements to support a clean transition. For West Bengal, while its power system showed better performance than the other two states regarding readiness to transition, a move away from a fossil fuel-intensive power sector requires more proactive policies and political will.
Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu have started on their clean electricity transition programme but their progress is not uniform across all areas. “The long-considered front-runners of adding renewable energy capacity, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, have to improve the readiness of their power ecosystems for a clean electricity transition,” says co-author Aditya Lolla, Senior Electricity Policy Analyst, Ember, adding that introducing private sector participation and competition would bring more capital and management expertise into the electricity sector, enhancing operational efficiency and increase accessibility and affordability.